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Friday, 16 January 2009

The Bailey Game

This was one of the books I picked up from the library and is one of two book reviews I am reviewing today.

I have previously read two books by Celia Rees and was curious by this one as it seemed to move away from her usual style of books which include Witch Child, Ghost Chamber and Sorceress.

The Bailey Game is set within a school environment and deals with the issue of bullying. The main character in the book is a girl called Alex, who was originally part of a gang who bullied a boy called Michael Bailey two years previous. They had taunted him constantly until things met an extremely dramatic ending. Now two years on, the guilt has never left her and to her horror, she can see it all happening again to the new girl Lauren and Alex goes out of her way to stop history repeating itself.

I loved this book. I think this is the best one I have read by Celia Rees. If you have children in either junior school or secondary school I would advise you and them to read it. From my past teaching experiences, I am only too aware that this does go on in school. For the children bullying, it is a matter of hierarchy, the top dog coming out tops. For the child being bullied, it is complete and utter mental and physical torture. Bullying needs to be taken seriously and stamped out. Within the book, the characters are frightened to tell their parents and the teachers in their school as they are worried about the situation getting worse. This is so real, this is just the way children react.

I was gripped by this book from the first chapter and read it straight in one session. It was a very easy read. I would definitely recommend it.

All my teacher buddies, I would definitely suggest reading this and please recommend this to the children and parents in your class, as I really do feel they would benefit from this book. d It is one of those books, I feel that could be discussed and read in class. This is the best book I have ever read about bullying.